Wake Up <Ba Sing Se, Earth Kingdom>

[baoli]

Bao Li paled somewhat under the dirt his face was covered in, his heart thudding against his chest wall like it was fighting to get out and find a hiding place of its own. He looked at the two benders, a pleading expression on his face. All they had to do was stay quiet and hidden for a few more seconds...

---

Outside, the two groups of Dai Li converged on the end of the alley to find nothing there. Immediately, the one labelled as the leader looked to the second group and barked "They've cut through a shop! You missed them!"

One of the men in the second group shook his head. "There was no one in the street at all, sir! The entire neighbourhood is clear. They've got to be around here."

"Right, you go down the alley, we'll split up and start asking shopkeepers. They have to be here, there's no way they could have gotten past us," and with that, the Dai Li made their rounds, beginning a few blocks from where the group of troublemakers was hidden.

---

The shop's owner poked his head into the storeroom as he overheard the yelling from the main street, his expression a combination of annoyance and worry. "Shang, you and your friends need to get out of here now. They're hunting you down shop by shop. The main street and alley are both going to be covered - you're going to need to take to the loft for a while," he explained in hissing whispers as he turned a tiny wooden flap, almost entirely unnoticible, to its side and pulled a small string from it. Looping it around a finger, he tugged. A ladder unfolded from the trap door it opened, leading up into a tiny, cramped and poorly lit crawlspace barely suitable for one person, let alone three. Bao Li was up the ladder and tucked in a corner before anyone could complain.

He poked his head out and nodded towards the loft, motioning for the other two to follow so the shopkeep could hide the door - and them - for sure capture.

[ikeru]

Every few moments, Ikeru would slowly poke her head out from the relative safety of the trash, scope out the dangerous street, and retreat back. Her lips pulled back in a snarl reminiscent of a fierce animal fighting for its life (because, really, wasn't that what she was?), she was both thankful and nervous of the silence in the alley and from the Dai Li. Thankful, because maybe that meant they hadn't been able to find them and move on; nervous, because what if they did find them and they were doing that creepy crawling-on-walls thing they were so fond of, watching the trio with a manic glee and waiting for the perfect moment to strike.

As if on cue and scaring her right out of torturing herself with those frightening thoughts, frustrated voices, alarmingly close, floated down the alley and made Ikki shift uncomfortably in her hiding spot. What could they do now? There was virtually no escape from them seeing as they had the best routes for escape blocked off. They could always bend their way out, but then there was the chance of someone noticing and getting to them before they could get away.

She could hear them kicking down shop doors and surprised shrieks from unsuspecting shopkeepers and customers; harsh voices where the words were unintelligible but nevertheless simple: Where are they? Oh, it was all over for them now--no escape! No mercy! Surely they would be killed this time instead of being spared the mercy of a simple brain washing; surely she would be forced into performing for those corrupt, vile men before her brains were smeared over walls washed in cold green light under Lake Laogai, a product of the ever-safe and never-threatened Ba Sing Se, home of sunshine and dreams and a perfectly empty crime record; surely, surely, surely.

Salvation came in the form of a trapdoor, ignored in Ikeru's inner turmoil and therefor unnoticed until it sprung open over her head. She practically shoved Jochi aside in her hurry after Bao Li scuttled up the secret ladder. Climbing up the rungs, she squeezed herself in next to Bao Li and thanked her lucky stars she was so thin. It was quiet cramped in there, not to mention hotter than a Fire Nation volcano. The smell that rolled off her clothes in hot waves was almost barbaric.

[jochi]

Few things Jochi had encountered in his life smelled so bad. Even a dead body in the Si Wong was soon mummified by intense heat and blazing wind, while food was far too precious a commodity to leave to rot. It was almost too overwhelming, but Jochi would sooner slit his own throat before wimping out because of a stench.

Jochi could tell the Dai Li were closing in quickly. Echoes of collapsing doors and panicked screams were edging closer to them, and there seemed to be no way out. He was fully aware that he and the woman, despite their powerful earthbending skills, were no match for the scores of Dai Li agents who would probably rise and ambush them out of nowhere. They were filthy rotten cheaters and cowards if they depended on sheer numbers to overwhelm the two offenders! Unless a miracle happened, they were doomed to face an ignominious death steeped in rotting filth. As his adrenaline gushed like a waterfall, he could only expect to go out with a bang.

Fortune struck like a lightning bolt when a trapdoor opened, letting free a ladder from the ceiling. Before he even noticed, Jochi was pushed aside by a spidery hand. Stumbling back into the pile of refuse, he quickly saw that skinny woman climb up after the young boy. It wasn't long before he scurried up after them like a hog-monkey. He didn't quite expect to be crammed in such a small place, where that disgusting odor still floated around, but at least they would survive and possibly escape. It was quite fortunate that Jochi lacked height, the woman lacked girth, and the boy lacked size in general.

In that cramped crawlspace, wedged in with the lady and child, Jochi stayed as silent as death...

[baoli]

Bao Li was used to stuff like this; it was why he knew about the door and was first up the ladder even before the shopkeep had pulled it down entirely. He felt safer here, though he had to admit the place was definitely not built for more occupants than it usually had. If - when, he reminded himself - when they got of this, he'd ask the old guy what this space ever got any use for before Bao Li was around to make use of it. It seemed too small for much of anything.

Maybe the old man was a smuggler or something.

Bao Li shrugged a bit and rummaged a vest pocket out of habit, pulling out two candies wrapped in paper. He unwrapped one without even thinking about it and was about to pop it in his mouth when he stopped. He looked at the two benders, uncomfortably crammed into this hidey-hole with him and scared as much as he was. Candy always calmed Bao Li down somewhat, but maybe they needed it more than he did.

He held out the two candies, one to each of the benders, as they all waited in silence for the all clear from the shopkeep downstairs.

[ikeru]

Oh, BAD!. Her legs were falling asleep. Of course, it was doomed to happen since being cramped up in awkward little ball and sandwiched between two people in the tiniest of crawl spaces wasn't exactly the most comfortable feeling in the world, but she didn't think it would get that bad that fast. Her legs folded up to her chest, aching and burning, she was about ready to scream or pass out (or both!), but the sudden offer of candy luckily intervened. Without wasting a moment on gratitude, her hand shot out of the darkness and snatched the candy out of the boy's palm, then placed the sugary treat in her mouth.

Sucking on the sweet, she mumbled a very quiet, very strained "thank you", and fell into silence as she realized the Dai Li, who had been making such a commotion just a few minutes ago, had all but stopped. She tipped her head to the side to place her ear against the wood, listening for any give-aways or clues to their whereabouts...but after a full minute, Ikeru realized they had apparently left.given up and left.

Aha! They had outsmarted the Dai Li! A victory dance was in order, but definitely not in the crawl space--there was hardly enough room to breathe. Grinning, she rapped her gently rapped her knuckles on the trap door and, losing a good chunk of floor, nearly dived back into the trash once it was opened. Landing in a heap, she stood, brushed her clothes off, and sneered at the empty streets. "Hah!" she cried, fists planted on her sides in triumph. She would wait for the others to climb out of hiding, all the while a new expression dawning on her face: perplexity. What now? Where could they go? Of course, she referred to them all as "they" and considered them a team, of sorts...until she killed the boy and man-boy, that is.

Ikeru slouched and frowned, tapping her foot impatiently while she folded her arms over her chest. "We can't stay in the city anymore," she said, turning her gaze first on Bao Li and then Jochi. "I'm sure they're still lookin for us, but we need to move and get outta here. It's not safe." Wise words from a wise woman, no doubt. She plucked at the stained front of her dress and frowned again. "This is the ugliest thing I've ever seen," she commented under her breath.

[jochi]

What was he, a kid? He refused the candy held out to him without explanation, merely holding up his palm, sneering, and squinting his eyes in disgust. Really, he had hated sugar for years upon years, and the gracious and generous offer really wasn't appreciated.

Before he knew it, he was freed from the cramped space, where his knees were almost shoved into his nostrils. Apparently they were safe, or some idiot opened the hatch before long, but he was still face-down in garbage once again. What a day that had turned out to be. Actually, his entire stay in Ba Sing Sei was a nightmare.

Jochi almost jumped when the woman advised them to leave.

His was a rather profane response, albeit a single line, but he didn't care what the child and woman thought. The sandbender was glad to leave that accursed city, so his vulgarity was almost expected. Tumbling from the garbage, he sat up and flicked away small pieces that clung to him. That odor still wouldn't leave, though. His nose wrinkled in thorough disgust.

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's get the hell out of here!" Jochi turned back as he walked toward the door, still cautious of what may be beyond that room full of refuse. Jochi didn't know if the guards still lurked in the alley, but he was prepared to give them what they deserved. Their blood staining his clothes would only be a badge of courage and honor to him.

[baoli]

Bao Li barely paid attention to the two benders as they talked - he knew they had to leave already. He knew none of them, not even himself, would be safe inside Ba Sing Se's walls anymore. Those two had sprung the bonds of the Dai Li, trashed a good portion of the city's market more than once, and were generally bad for city morale according to the local laws. Bao Li himself was involved in both their initial arrest and their current status of running from the Dai Li a second time - he was not going to be looked on well at all.

He had to leave Ba Sing Se.

But he had no idea how he was going to tell Grandma Mao that. The conflict of emotions raged in his head and drowned out the rest of the noise in the area.

He crouched down and stuck his head into the alley at shin level, an area that no one would generally be looking, and scanned back and forth before standing back up. He nodded to the shopkeep and ran off before the two could even start running, on the verge of tears and not wanting them to see him cry for real.

[ikeru]

Rolling her bottom lip under her teeth to chew in thought, Ikeru paused for a few moments to ponder her choices and plan the best route. Staying in Ba Sing Se was absolutely not an option anymore since the po-po had likely already drawn up posters of her, the brat, and the midget and pasted them all over the city. She couldn't just leave all her BAD!, though, but it wasn't like she had a whole lot to begin with. A small pouch of silver stashed in a hole in the ground, maybe...a ring she traded for a one night stand. That was pretty much it. Sparing a disgusted glance down at the ruined dress, she grimaced, brushed away a film of dirt clinging to the rich material, and decided on what she would do now. It was time to move on. Boss Tanaka would probably be pretty pissed for a few days now that his only employee had skipped town, but, hey, he could always find someone else. He was a...charming man.

Glancing fitfully over to the boy as he broke into a run and peeled out of there like a bat-fly out of the Spirit World, she all but ignored the small man and any other sassy, infuriating one-liners he might have had to offer and took off at a trot in the direction of her own home. BAD! those other guys! BAD! them in their tiny, tiny asses! She would kill them the next time she saw them, the next time she came into contact with them, the next time she even so much as heard their name.

Well, wait, that would be pretty dumb. Why kill the messenger? No, she would seek them out and then kill them. Bash their heads on boulders; snap their spines over stones; rip their guts out with sharp rocks...

Before she knew it, Ikeru was standing in front of her slanted apartment building. Glancing from left to right just to make sure she hadn't been followed, she darted inside the building, slid the wooden door shut, and set an earthen wall in front of it for good measure. There! Practically sprinting up the stairs, she rushed into her room, tore a worn canvas sack off a wooden hook on the wall, and began stuffing it with anything and everything that came to mind: food, clothes, money, jewelry, a book, a skillet...everything but the kitchen sink. Not that they hadn't been invented yet. Whatever.

It wasn't until she had finished packing her bag (removing the useless BAD! from it, of course...but maybe keeping the skillet--you never knew!) that she realized she had forgotten to change! The very thought of the very idea of the very notion of wearing the stained, matted, smelly, ugly dress for even a second longer, like a badge of the city's warped definition of commitment and good citizenry, made her sick to her stomach. Ikeru literally ripped the fancy fabric off her body, working up a sweat and knocking over a small cup on a nearby table filled with extra change and a writing brush in the process. Once she was completely nude and standing, alone, in her home, breathing as if she had just run forty miles, she carefully strolled into her bedroom, picked up yesterday's clothes (which had seemingly become every day's clothes: a dark green tunic and dark brown pants), put them on, and, satisfied, walked out of her home, bag in tow.

She gave her immediate surroundings one final look-over and deemed it safe enough to travel outside; however, the cover of the shadows in the alleys would be her traveling guide. Stealthy, like the fabled Yuu Yan archers, she crept across the massive city, thankful she lived close to the inner wall, and eventually found herself standing in a shaded area. The mighty wall of Ba Sing Se stood before her, reaching up, up, up into the sky and encircling her completely. She could see nothing but wall and sky for as far as she could see.

Ikeru took a few seconds to let it all sink in that, yes, she was really getting the BAD! out of Ba Sing Se...and that very thought comforted her to a degree she did not understand. Even the very real threat of the Dai Li, so common and persistent and menacing just half an hour ago, melted away at the thought that clanged inside her head like well-polished bells: I'm leaving.

If they so happened to attack at that minute, well, there wasn't much Ikeru would be able to do, besides scream and try to cover her ass.

[jochi]

Jochi knew, now that the woman disappeared into the city, that there was no further reason to stick around that kid. It was better to leave him in the dust, despite any notion of honor, and to get his tiny self out of Ba Sing Sei as fast as his stubby legs could carry him. Sure, the kid probably knew the neighborhood by instinct, but there was so far the sandbender could be led. That, and he would sooner trust his own intuition than possibly be led to a dead end by some lame kid.

Thus, while he was scurrying behind the kid, he stopped in his tracks. Jochi was confident that, from that point onward, his own judgment would lead him far and away from the cesspool of shame and stupidity known as Ba Sing Sei.

"Later days, kiddo," Jochi grumbled, immediately branching off in a different direction than the scrawny kid covered in filth. Jochi knew he had to head straight for that massive wall, but still expected the preteen to stop him and argue his case. He could whine and offer all the evidence he wanted, but it wasn't likely the sandbender would heed anything said.

[baoli]

Bao Li ran through the alleys and streets, ducking in and out of shops, around corners and through crowds as he did so. He was convinced the Dai Li were everywhere, and acted accordingly. He made his way to the Mao family tumbledown shack by the most roundabout way possible, doing his best to shake every possible tail through carefully timed stop and starts to his jaunt, crowd-blending and sudden direction changes in his movements.

It was a good half hour before he got home, ducking into the small room that served as a laundry at the house's rear through a window. He lost his footing on the windowsill and splashed down hard in the grey-watered washtub below him. Spitting out a stream of water as he resurfaced, he sighed. He was going to miss this kind of stuff. It kept him feeling alive.

Grandma Mao, roused from a short nap in a nearby chair by the sudden racket and small tidal wave the skinny boy somehow managed to flood her floor with, looked at the soaked Bao Li and blinked before raising the back of her hand to her mouth and laughing. Bao Li couldn't help but laugh too - Grandma Mao's laugh was infectious. They both tried to quiet themselves lest the giggling wake Mao the Elder and earn them both his wrath, but they just couldn't do it. Bao Li was sopping wet, Grandma Mao was too tickled at the sight. When she finally regained control of herself, she looked at her soaked grandson and sighed. "I was just thinking to myself, Bao Li, that you needed a bath. And here you are, volunteering! How kind," she managed. Bao Li grinned a sheepish grin, raising his hand to the back of his head and bowing it a little.

"I didn't mean to, believe me. But 's probably better I got one in. Before I leave," he managed, his voice cracking. Grandma Mao's eyebrows arched quizzically as she offered her skinny grandson a hand out of the washtub.

"Leave? Where are you going, Bao Li? Ba Sing Se is not so big tha you cannot come back here to sleep, at least. Or see your grandmother," she handed him a rag to dry his face and drew a large sheet across the indoor clothesline. "Get out of that outfit before you catch cold," she ordered, and before Bao Li could protest, he found himself stripping. When finished, he yanked the sheet down and wrapped it around himself, sighing.

"That's the problem, gramma. I can't stay here no more. I...I got in big trouble this time," he managed, looking at the floor and trying not to cry. "I got the Dai Li mad at me. They know who I am, an' they're gonna track me here. I bet soon, too. So I gotta leave the city. I gotta go, because...because..." and he lost it. Bao Li broke down sobbing, a miserable little figure wrapped in a huge bedsheet, soaking wet and crying like a baby. Grandma Mao wrapped her frail arms around the boy and held him, trying to make sense of the situation. When his body stopped heaving, she held him at arm's length.

"Bao Li Shang, what happened?" She demanded. Bao Li spilled the whole story from start to finish - the two benders, the gold, the Dai Li..two chases through the market, the wrecked stalls...more Dai Li. Grandma Mao's normally passive features darkened considerably as he went on. "Why?" She asked as he finished the tale. "Why did you do this?"

Bao Li looked her right in the eye. He had asked himself the same question many times during his fateful encounters with the two angriest earthbenders in the kingdom. He finally had an answer. "I had to do it, gramma. They needed help. Dad said I have to help people when I can, so I did. And now I gotta go," he puffed up a bit at his own statement, grabbing his somewhat wet loot sack from the floor and wringing the water out of it before throwing his few belongings into it. A spare shirt, a handful of candy, a blanket to sleep on. He was about to throw the small bag of copper coinage he'd actually saved into the sack, but hesitated and left it on the table. "Gramma, you need this more than me. Don't ask where it came from. It's not much, but maybe it's a day of good food," he said. As he continued rooting around for things to pack, the sheet almost falling down a few times, Grandma Mao watched him.

She was speechless. Bao Li had never taken responsibility for anything he had done up to this point. He was growing up, and he was doing it fast. She moved as if something else was controlling her, her thoughts far away, on the son in law who had gone missing some time ago. Bao Li was his father's son. She managed to get Bao Li a dry outfit, and handed it to him. "There's nothing I can do to stop you from going, is there?" She asked rather sadly.

"I can't stay. The Dai Li will hurt you if I do," Bao Li explained grimly as he dressed, he had experienced their tactics twice now and did not want to see what they would do to the only family he was still with. "I can't let them hurt you. So I gotta go. But I don't want to leave forever. I can't do that. I will come back, I promise!" Fully dressed, he slung the pack over his shoulder and across his chest. Tugging at the string, he set off to the door.

"Wait, Bao Li," Grandma Mao held out a hand to stop him, and Bao Li turned at the sound of her voice. "You know I don't like this at all, a boy so young out there alone...you will write to me. I know you can read and write enough to at least tell me you're okay once a week or so. Don't stop doing that. You tell me you're okay. The instant those letters stop, I'm coming after you," she smiled sadly and looked at the young man before her. "And you can't go out there without weapons. Take your butterfly blades, Bao Li, and don't you dare use them unless you have no other recourse," she handed him a tiny rusted key - the key to her hope chest. Bao Li nodded, taking the key, and freed his swords from the chest. He shifted them in the scabbards until they were at his back, under his vest.

"I...I love you, gramma," he got out before running out the door again, heading for the walls of the city. Grandma Mao, for her part, cried while mopping up her grandson's mess - possibly for the last time. Who knew what lived beyond the walls of Ba Sing Se?

[ikeru]

After standing on the brink of the city for what felt like twenty-four days but was surely only five minutes at the most, Ikeru finally broke the trance induced by the massive wall, blinking a few times to get the combined gunk and dirt out of her eyes, and turned, stealthily, on the balls of her feet. Scanning the immediate area for any suspicious-looking folk, the tip of her tongue peeking out of her mouth in concentration, she spied what appeared to be a small child with a bag slung over his or her shoulder creeping up the street. Shielding her eyes with her hand from the sun and craning her neck for optimum looking, Ikeru realized, with a jolt of mingled surprise and anger, that it was the shrimp! What the hell!

"What the crap!" she cried, and then immediately clapped a hand over her mouth and, after a moment's thought, slapped the other hand on top of the first. Giving away her position in the city was not a wise idea, especially if a murder was about to be committed. Narrowing her eyes and balling her fists at her sides, Ikeru marched, not so much silently as restraining fury, over to Bao Li, manslaughter on her mind.

"What do you think you're doin here?" she snarled once close enough to Bao Li to be heard, and folded her arms over her chest. "This is my escape hatch, so back off and get your own!" To emphasize her point, she stomped her foot and sent a very weak, but still effective, tremor through the ground, aimed to give the boy one hell of a shake and possibly even knock him on his ass.

[baoli]

The ground shook under Bao Li, and he shifted from foot to foot, riding the tremor in a desperate attempt to keep himself balanced. It failed entirely. He was soon flat on his rear end in the middle of the causeway before the huge wall, blinking at the constantly angry Ikeru. Frowning, he braced his hands on the ground and sprang back up to his feet as the rumble passed him and off into the distance. Somewhere, he heard an adult swear. If no one had known that a bender with an anger management issue was out here, they knew now. Bao Li mentally made a note that this could only bring trouble as he sighed and stared down Ikeru. Again.

"Look lady, it's not like there's other way outta here. We all gotta go over the wall, everyone knows that. It's not just your way out, it's mine too, so deal with it," he explained, trying to look as menacing as she did, his chest puffed out and his fists clenched. It failed entirely at being frightening. It was comical, really.

[ikeru]

Disbelief dominating her face, Ikeru tipped her head back to the sky and threw her hands up in the air, exasperated and clearly very annoyed. "Deal with it?" she said. "Out of the entire BAD!ing wall to randomly stroll up to, you hadda pick my part of the wall! It's like you're some kinda, I dunno...stalking ghost!" Stupid conspiracies aside, it was foolish to argue with a boy half her age, especially over something as trivial as who got to blow a huge hole in a wall first...then again, it wasn't like she had all the time in the world to wait for this grubby little kid to carefully climb over the wall.

Expelling a brief and sharp sigh, Ikeru glanced over Bao Li's head...and spied four or five Dai Li agents silently dart behind a building. Oh, BAD!. Would this ever end? Forgoing all intentions to pick another fight with the child (or, even better, pick a fight with them), she suddenly grabbed Bao Li by the back of his shirt and, ignoring any complaining, dragged him and her skinny ass to the wall, where she set him (well, more like dropped him) and turned to face the only obstacle keeping her from freedom.

Dropping into stance, she slid one foot over the ground, twisted it into her body, and jerked her fists forwards, slamming into the unbelievably thick wall. Cracks and faults sprang up the enormous structure, but other than that...

Apparently sensing her desire to leave, one Dai Li agent sprang out of hiding, stomping both feet as he landed, and sent a kicked-up boulder towards the pair of escapees. "Stop where you are!" he demanded, almost as an after-thought. Shoot first, ask questions later was evidentially the motto of this horrible, horrible city.

Thinking quickly, Ikeru abandoned the hopeless front on the wall to erect a thick stone wall which may have buckled and cracked against the attack of the Dai Li, but still held strong. She sent up another wall on either side, effectively sealing her and Bao Li in, and, for the one or two moments of peace they had, punched the little boy in the arm. "When we get out of here, I'm going to hold you down in a lake until you drown," she muttered, and began another assault, although this time not on Bao Li, nor on the wall, but at the base of the structure.

[jochi]

Jochi was sneaking around a corner near that massive wall when he saw, heard, and felt it suddenly shake and crumble a bit. With haste did he run toward the source as quickly as his legs could carry him. Dust was kicked up with each step, hurrying to make it before it was too late. Resentment, disappointment, and annoyance crossed his face when he saw that that section of particular wall was still, in fact, there. His pace may have stayed quick at that point, but it halted considerably when he caught sight of Dai Li agents sending an assortment of rocks straight at a few earthen walls. No doubt the walls were made by a fugitive earthbender or two, but those bastards were going too far as to stop his only ticket out of that spirit-forsaken city.

While it seemed like he was helping the escaping folk behind the walls - which he was, incidentally - he was actually aiming more for the Dai Li themselves in his attack. Jochi was certain they wouldn't see him spring from the alley, unusually silent and not sounding a cry of anger as he reduced a flying boulder to rubble with an airborne tackle. He was quick to roll into a crouching position as he fell, but even quicker to send series of earth ripples where sharp rocks jutted dangerously outward at the Dai Li themselves. Additionally, his attack included all the available dust in the area converting into a massive cloud, while down the center of the waves, a spiral of razor-sharp rock fragments flew every which way. Buildings and carts would be wrecked, but those damned Dai Li certainly wouldn't know what hit them.

Jochi was pissed, and his angered upheaval happening in moments only proved the fact. In the cover of dust, which would probably be returned to the ground soon enough, the goggle-wearing Jochi bolted straight through the protective walls that guarded the fugitives from the corrupt Dai Li's attacks. A Jochi-shaped hole was left in his wake, but he spared nothing in trying to crack at that wall again. He wasn't fully aware that the cranky, skinny woman was trying to do the same, but a quick glance out his peripheral vision made known that the familiar grubby kid was in his presence. That didn't bother him, as he was more intent on liberation and breaking open that stupid wall.

[baoli]

Bao Li went from being able to see fine to choking in a cloud of dust in a split second. He had the nagging feeling that things were going to get a whole lot worse before they got better, and when the large hole appeared with a violent crack in the safety walls Ikeru had summoned appeared with a figure cloaked in the dirt cloud, he knew just how bad. Unfortunately he was coughing too much to do anything about it - times like this one...well, times like any of the ones around these two benders (because he was positive that hole was made by the second of two angry earthbenders he'd met over the last few weeks)...times like these really made him feel useless.

He couldn't help. He couldn't even dig fast enough to be useful. He couldn't even cheer on the benders without choking on the dust cloud. And he sure as hell wasn't going out there to do some face-to-face with those pointy-hatted bastards if he could help it. All he could do was wait and choke in the dust cloud, hoping against all odds that one of these two would at least have enough heart to protect him long enough for all of them to get the hell out of here.